Monday Meanderings -- 2 - 16 -- 2026

It's warming up!  Finally after two full weeks of temperatures below freezing we are finally hitting 32º and above.  Today's high was 44º.  But it rained all day and that means I was in my studio most of the day.  But I can't really show anything I got done!  I also took a nap. Let's see what I did get done this week. It was a great week of getting goals done. 

2/9/26

✅Mail quilt blocks MB, Joan, and Many Hands and Many Hearts — Done.

✅Begin planning on Feb UFO Challenge — started, evaluated fabrics, came up with a tentative plan.

✅Finish back stitching zippered bag and add buttons — The bag is done! 

✅Work on snowman block — definite progress on several parts. 

✅Continue knitting on hat — several more rows finished. 

✅Continue putting Magnificent Mystery blocks together — 13 A blocks are done, 1 block B. 

And I have pictures to share of many of these goals!

These blocks are from the mid 1990s. Three quilters from different parts of the US met on a chat group from the internet. I don't remember what project we were involved with.  It might have been a row robin or a secret pal block swap.   The three of us decided to make some blocks and swap them. Julianna Phillips, from Washington,  made the compass block and the hand along with a block for us to sign which I will put on the back.  I have no recollection of the blocks I made nor the ones Terri Willet, of northern Virginia, made. At the time we lived in Georgia and I remember flying up to Va to meet up with Terri to attend a national quilt show with her.  Later in the year we moved to Maryland. I have held these blocks since 1996 or so. At first I didn't think my skills were up to putting them into a quilt. Then, they spent several years in a box unchecked. Finally, this year I put them on my UFO Challenge list and it came up this month. 

I laid out the blocks similar to quilts in the book Circle of Nine Quilts by Janet Houts and Jean Ann Wright. I have tentatively decided I'll put some of them on point and then figure out the other four, probably not on point. Here are some closeups of them. This will be centerpiece of the quilt. I'm not committed to this background fabric. Or, any of the other ones I have. 

One of the side blocks. Any suggestions on fabrics to use with these blocks? I was thinking of using a turquoise. Unfortunately, I'll have to take these to a quilt store and find new fabrics.  

Next up is what's been finished on my first snowman block. I decided I needed to mark the embroidery for future stitching. Here's what I've done so far. (This is one of 6 blocks.) You can see some of the outlines where the wool will go, and the markings that will be embroidered. (See the beginning of the tree needles? I learned the Fly Stitch to make it. There's a lot more of that stitch coming on that tree.) I also did some of the embroidery on a little bird that is going to be on the left bottom.

And here is the finish on my cross stitch zip bag. I was tickled that I finished this in less than a year. Right now it is holding my supplies for my snowmen. This week I finished the back stitching and sewed on the buttons. (Check last week's pic to see the right colors. This is way off!) 

This coming week has some repeat goals and new ones. Will see how I do on them. 

2/16/2026

Work on Feb UFO Challenge blocks 

Quilt one of my tops

Work on snowman block 1

Continue knitting on hat

Make more dash blocks 

 

After a day of rain some of the snow in our front yard is melting. The back yard is still mostly covered as we don't get much sun there.  I'm hoping all the snow will be gone at the end of the week -- at least the snow in our yard.  It's going to take a lot longer for the piles of snow from streets or parking lots to melt. 

I've been doing really well on stitching every day.  Here's this week's report. 

Week ending 2/15/26  46 days days of 2026.

  46 of 46 days  100%

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the UFO Challenge blocks.  I probably won't get the top together this month but there's always next month to finish it off. 

Please take a look at these Linky parties. You never know what great ideas you can find across the internet. 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

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Monday Musings

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings -- 2 - 9 - 2026

Weather is still a major issue here.  It has continued to be much colder than usual and we had a little extra snow this week.  That means I stayed in the house most of the time and sewed! And, I got a lot done this week! 

Here's my goal list.  Most everything is checked off. YEA!

2/2/26

✅Work on the spools quilt — top is finished. 

✅Work on snowman block — little bits of progress made.  

✅Start new knitted hat — about 3” are done. 

✅Work on outline stitching on zippered bag — left section done. 

Make 4 more dash blocks✔️✔️✔️ — 3 out of 4 done. 

Mail quilt blocks MB, Joan, and Many Hands and Many Hearts — Oops, they aren’t even packaged! 

I finished the spool top. And, I really like it.  I've got to find (or buy) something for the backing.  But, am I'm actually done with this?  Does it need a border?  It can't be very big because I want to use it on an existing hanger that isn't much bigger than the top is now.  Maybe it just needs a binding in that same blue?  What do you think?

Here's what I've done on the zippered bag. I've finished about a third of the backstitching.  I should have finished it but instead worked on the other hand stitched items on my list.  I'll be showing them once I have enough done to actually see. I plan on using this bag for my knitting projects. 

Here's what I'm working on this coming week.  (Hopefully I'll actually mail out the  packages!) 

2/9/26

Mail quilt blocks to MB, Joan, and Many Hands and Many Hearts

Begin planning for Feb UFO Challenge

Finish stitching on zippered bag, add buttons

Work on snowman block

Continue knitting on hat

Continue putting Magnificent Mystery blocks together

I had another week of sewing every day.  I went back to last week's statement and I realized I had the wrong number of days -- one too many.  So this number is correct. 

Week ending 2/8/2026 -- 39 days of 2026 

  39 Of 39 days 100%.

Sunday I spent the afternoon off list! Sharon is back from a trip and we decided to work on our Magnificent Mystery quilts together on FaceTime. Evidently the February instructions are for the rest of the quilt. But first there are a lot of units to be sewn into blocks and half blocks.  I laid out the two main blocks and took photos.  (I had them on design boards one with turquoise edge, the other with a red and white check edge.) 

I am going to need to remake some units in the half blocks as I switched up the placement of some colors.  It won't take much to make the correct blocks.  I like what's been done so far.  I finished 7 blocks of 13 like the top block and just the one of the bottom one.  We'll get together again to have another try at finishing these blocks. 

I hope you can spend some time surfing these Linky parties to keep up with what quilters are doing around the world. 

Stitching Time 

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Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 8 - 11 - 2025

What a wonderful week Sharon and I have had.  She's gotten a lot done which you can see below.  I did some "negative" stitching on my counted cross stitch before I was able to make forward progress. Check below for the picture.  And the weather has been great though we've spent a good deal of our visit in the studio keeping Ruthie busy.  First let's look at my goals for the week.

8/5/25

✅Figure out next steps for my 1.5” squares sewn into 9 patches — read directions, found background fabric. It's ready to cut out.

✅Quilt a top —  top quilted but needs binding.

✅Prep triangle top to quilt on my domestic machine — pinned and started quilting. 

✅Continue working on the counted cross stitch project bag — progress made but there’s been a lot of pulling stitches out and then recounting and stitching. 

✅Attend Country Piecemakers guild meeting Saturday — Great fun to see so many friends. And a bonus — lots of free fabric from a quilter who has given up quilting.

 

Here's a picture of the triangle quilt.  I pin basted it and made a mistake. Probably a big mistake. I usually tape the backing fabric down and then pull it taut and tape some more. OOPS. I forgot the taping step. And, I was ready to get to quilting so I didn't fix it. I may regret that. The positive is this is a wall hanging and the back won't be showing. 

And here's a closeup of it. I'm stitching with my walking foot in the white triangles although I am quilting by rows.

Eventually all of the white triangles will be stitched on all sides. It's pretty easy to do -- I started by going up and down the rows. I may have to fill in some spaces but hopefully it will continue to be easy. 

Ugh.  No I don't really like this decorator fabric for the backing. And, no it doesn't look great but it is a wall hanging so it won't show. Or at least that is my plan.  It's more puckery than I want but ... I was lazy. 

As I mentioned the cross stitch project bag is a challenge.  I removed a lot of stitches on the left side. I finally figured out the error and have been able to continue to make progress.  Hopefully the lamb on the left will be finished by next week...maybe more. 

Now on to this week. I'm going to take it easy this week.  I want to read a bit, knit and do a little sewing. Plus all that new to me fabric needs to be put away. Hum, I might be busier than I want to be! 

8/11/25

Keep working on project bag 

Read a book or two

Wash and iron new fabric and put it away

Quilt one of my tops

Make blocks for various projects

I have already washed most of the dark fabrics that I got. Including some greens I bought at Quilters Corner in the Richmond area.  I am hoping to make a paper pieced Christmas tree sometime this year and bought a medium and dark green.  Once again, I was surprised by the amount of color Color Grabbers™, well, grab. The bigger sheets are Color Catchers™.  I'm going to be buying more Color Grabbers in the future. 

The funny thing is there was only a yard or two that were brown.  I've already started the ironing and folding but it will take a while to go through all 25 yards plus the extra 2.25 yards from the store.  Here are the dark fabrics ready to iron. 

Here are the quilts Sharon was able to quilt on Ruthie.  In quilting order:

This is Baby Goose pattern from Villa Rosa.  Sharon won a kit.  It's now ready to bind. 

Next is a Fabric Cafe 3 yard quilt.  Sorry we're not sure which book it comes from or if it is a stand alone pattern.  The pink fabric has ballerinas on it and the black fabric has ballet inspired words. Really cute quilt. 

 

And finally, this amazing quilt.  Sharon decided to do the Bernina - Sugaridoo quilt along last year.  (The pattern, Between the Lines, and information is still available at Sugaridoo https://sugaridoo.com/qal/.) She chose one of my new quilting designs, Hidden Diamonds by My Creative Stitches.

And here is a close up of the quilting design, Hidden Diamonds. 

I have to say she did a beautiful job on the color choices, piecing, and picking the design. It was an easy design to use and went fairly fast.  

This was another successful week on the stitching front. I will admit I nearly skipped my stitching Saturday.  But I decided to set the timer for 15 minutes and work on the project bag.  Needless to say I spent more than 15 minutes! 

W/ending 8/9/25. 222 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/August = 9/9
• 15 minute days/2024 = 215/215 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's been a busy day quilting Between the Lines, washing fabric, and trying to straighten the studio.  It looks like a bomb went off in it with all the new fabric needing to be put away.  Hopefully I'll be able to get to sew sometime this week. 

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Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings 7 -- 21 -- 2025

No news on the weather here.  It's been the same for most of the week.  Maybe a little more humid than last week. UGH.  This week it is suppose to get to 95˚ (that's 35 C.)  Heaven only knows what the "feels like" temp will be. On the other hand I'll be up in some local mountains.  Nothing that high but hopefully slightly cooler. But I'm going to be in quilting heaven -- it's retreat time! 

Last week's goals- 

7/14/25

✅Make more FCQ Equilter's blocks — A couple more finished, a couple need to be finished.

✅Put some fabric away/ clean up a bit a lot — Great progress made! 

✅Make more string blocks and trim — did not trim yet but more were made.

Load and quilt one of my quilts — nope, not done.

Cut more Happy Blocks — a few more cut and a few more fabrics found.

First up 4 of the FCQ Equilter's blocks. I've got two more partially made. They'll be waiting til next week to be finished. 

I spent a whole day cleaning up my cutting table.  I got 2/3rds of it done and looking great. Here is the before picture. 

This is what my secondary cutting space looked like when I started cleaning.  I didn't take a pic of my main cutting area. It wasn't this bad because I use it for cutting all the time. But look at the difference! 

The front area is mostly cleaned up. The area with the yellow mat is my main cutting area looking ready to be used. Of course, after I used it it didn't look that good. Sigh. But I did put any fabric on it away -- the rulers can stay there. 

If you could see the whole front and the right side better you would see that side still needs a lot of work. I've found that I tend to leave fabric out, bits that are usable if cut into squares and HSTs but I never seemed to get to it.  I'm hoping I can have another day cleaning out the fabric bits and pieces next week when I'm back from retreat.  There are a few other areas that need work too. 

Since I didn't think to take any pictures of my string blocks let's move on to my goals for this coming week.  The biggest thing is the retreat I'm going on with 6 of my quilting buddies. So, sewing my several quilt kits together is my main plan. 

7/21/26

Attend retreat

Piece these tops in the order given as time allows:

  Soho

  Triple Rail baby quilt

  Irish Christmas (my fabrics are spring colors!) 

  Counterpoint 

  Pretty Please 

  Dinos and Friends (PCQ Charity Quilt for Kids)

Write article on Mysteries and Sew Alongs 

Keep working on cross stitch project bag 

Yep, I've got a lot of projects but it's ok if I don't get to all of them.  Soho is leftover, untouched, from the October 2024 retreat. If I don't get all of the projects started they will stay for the October 2025 retreat. Many of these are 3 yard quilts so they should be fairly easy. 

I did start the counted cross stitch on my new project bag.  I didn't get much done but here it is. I won't mention how many stitches I took out either.  It'll go with me and maybe I'll be able to get some more stitching done.  

I also did the July Cali-Co block. My friend Sharon and I call on FaceTime and chat as we make the block each month. So here is block 7. Hum, I need to trim this block especially on the right side.         ↘️

Here are all seven blocks together. 

I'm enjoying making these blocks.  I have no idea what the final quilt will look like -- but I'm looking forward to making all the rest. 

I have been sewing or knitting or cross stitching every day this week.  Not bad! I'm still at 100%. 

W/ending 7/20/25. 201 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/July = 20/20
• 15 minute days/2024 = 201/201 days
• Success rate = 100%

I leave Tuesday for the retreat. We rent a house in western Virginia that is set up for quilting and scrapbooking retreats. Unfortunately we do have to bring our own food. We cook dinner in pairs but bring our own breakfast and lunch supplies.  I'm all set with my quilting plans and food plans.  I just need to pack and drive off on Tuesday.  I'll be back Sunday early in the afternoon.  

Please check out these Linky Parties.  Lots of great things to see from bloggers around the world. 

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff

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Monday Musings

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie